Rugby League World Cup: England crush Greece as Dom Young scores four tries

Dominic Young scored four first-half tries as a rampant England ran in an incredible 17 in total to crush debutants Greece 94-4 - their biggest victory in a World Cup match.

Shaun Wane's men had already qualified for the knockout stage, but a thoroughly professional performance in Sheffield allowed them to finish top of Group A.

The score comfortably surpassed England's previous record in the tournament which came in 2000, when a side led by John Kear thrashed Russia 76-4 at St Helens.

Greece put up a fight early on and trailed 10-4 when teenager Siteni Taukamo slid over but England dominated from that point.

The irrepressible Young, Matty Lees, Ryan Hall, Tom Burgess and George Williams all crossed as England led 44-4 at the break.

The barrage continued in the second period as Tommy Makinson and Marc Sneyd both touched down, Burgess and Hall added to their tallies, while debutants Joe Batchelor and and Kai Pearce-Paul also ran in either side of two tries from Andy Ackers.

In the quarter-finals, England will face the runner-up of Group D in Wigan next Saturday (kick-off 14:30 GMT).

Tonga are currently top but Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands and Wales all have a mathematic possibility of reaching the knockout stages.

• 'We want the big one' - Wane eyes up final triumph

• Fixtures, results and BBC coverage times

Ruthless England show no mercy

England maintained their flawless record in the tournament but this was an utterly ruthless performance in attack, with every surge up front seemingly ending in a try.

The scoreline with 11 different try scorers was the second highest recorded in the history of the tournament, only behind Australia's 110-4 rout of Russia in 2000.

England have now won eight of their past nine internationals, a 34-0 loss to New Zealand in 2018 the only blemish, while they last lost to a team other than Australia or New Zealand at a World Cup back in 1975, when beaten by Wales.

Newcastle Knights winger Young spoke before the tournament about wanting to "prove a point" in England after leaving Huddersfield in 2019 because of a lack of first-team opportunities.

And the 21-year-old was at the heart of England's merciless finishing with another breathtaking display, taking his tally to eight in the tournament, the most of any player and just four short of the record set by Australia's Valentine Holmes in 2017.

All of Young's tries at Bramall Lane came in the opening 40 minutes, with St Helens forward Lees also running through unchallenged, Hall bustling over, Burgess barging in and the excellent Williams converting.

Makinson, playing at full-back in place of the rested skipper Sam Tomkins, joined the try-scoring party at the start of the second half by reacting quickest to ground the ball.

England were running riot and the superb Sneyd touched down to take his points tally in the game to 30, after also kicking 13 conversions.

Burgess went over again from a Sneyd pass and Hall touched down his 14th World Cup try to close in on Australian legend Billy Slater's record of 16 and take his tally to 39 in 40 for England.

England were relentless and the scoreline kept ticking as Batchelor slid home on his first Test appearance as did Pearce-Paul, while Ackers also got on the scoresheet twice.

For Greece, the loudest cheer of the afternoon arguably came for them in the opening period when 18-year-old full-back Taukamo side-stepped Pearce-Paul to score, but their first World Cup campaign ends with three defeats from three.

England: Makinson; Young, Pearce-Paul, Welsby, Hall; Sneyd, Williams; Cooper, Ackers, Lees, Batchelor, Bateman, Radley.

Interchanges: Knowles, McMeeken, Burgess, Hill, Oledzki.

Greece: Taukamo; Mougios, Vrahnos, Constantinou, Mitsias; Ilias, Meads; Tuliatu, Mamouzelos, Rousoglou, Zampetides, Kambos, Flocas.

Interchanges: Nake, Sell, Katsidonis, Nianiakas, Sui Tin.